Tale of a tunnel and a viaduct
In the fast paced world, when the nation is going for faster BGs, let us take some time out to relive those bygone days in the same aura and ambience. Here are a few pictures of the charming Meter Gauge section between Punalur and Sengottai, where the railway line passes through the Tenmala Reserve Forest, falling into the symphony with the misty wind, swift streams, chirpy birds and... oh yes(!) the clickety clack of trains, over bridges, into tunnels, between the woods... Oh so wonderful to be entering a tunnel under the mountains in Kerala and emerge out of the darkness to witness the vast expanse of paddy fields in Tamilnadu... Naveen, Raghu Jayaraman and Harish covered this beautiful railway section in March 2010, before the line was officially closed on September 2010. All pictures were taken with permission from CPRO and the local authority.
Just as the punalur bound passenger disappears around the corner, the Sengottai bound service powered by YDM-4 #6401 gets clearance (Harish Kumar)
and off she goes, to roll down the eastern slopes of Pothigai hills (Harish Kumar)
After seeing off the two passenger trains, we walked to the tunnel inside which the state border between Tamilnadu and the Kerala passes through. This was also our first ever tunnel walk. (Harish Kumar)
We walked into the dark tunnel, stumbled, slipped, but made it to the other end. (Naveen)
but not before spotting the state border point inside the tunnel (Naveen)
On the other side of the tunnel lies the Summit point at 274.320 meters above MSL (Naveen)
View of the 112 years old tunnel from the eastern side (Harish Kumar)
Couple of hours and an auto-rickshaw ride of about 25 kms later, we reach the famous 13 Arch Kannara Viaduct, which is also referred to as Aryankavu Viaduct. (Harish Kumar)
We reach the viaduct just in time to greet the Punalur bound passenger (Harish Kumar)
Powered by YDM-4 #6401, the Punalur bound passenger cautiously negotiates the beautiful Kannara viaduct, flanked by Kazhuthurutti river, the Kollam - Sengottai highway and the mountain ranges. (Harish Kumar)
Life among the rails. (Naveen)
About an hour later, the Sengottai bound passenger service appears around the corner with the headlights switched on to take on the tunnel (Harish Kumar)
Escapes out of the tunnel and ready to gallop across the viaduct (Harish Kumar)
YDM-4 6310 makes one more appearance, this time on the famous Kannara viaduct (Naveen)
and swiftly glides past the viaduct (Harish Kumar)
only to fade away through the deep rock cut (Naveen)
Relic of a bygone era! (Harish Kumar)
Each station in this section blends so well with the nature. Tenmalai is among the most beautiful stations in this section. (Naveen)
Train schedule at Tenmalai (Harish Kumar)
Scene from a bye-gone era (Harish Kumar)
The beautiful British built station, Tenmalai (Harish Kumar)
Tenmalai had all the charm, an old MG station would have (Harish Kumar)
The cute, little Tenmalai station. The Government and the Railway have agreed to preserve this British built building and had built a new building for BG (Harish Kumar)
A classic ticket counter with a modern instrument inside (Harish Kumar)
Quiet, serene, lonely with thick wood around and birds for company, you can shoot a period film here without moving much around. The view is towards Sengottai. (Harish Kumar)
The evening service to Sengottai with YDM-4 6401 is the first to arrive at Tenmalai. Its counter-part would cross here. (Naveen)
The sengottai bound passenger pulls into Tenmalai with YDM-4 #6401 (Harish Kumar)
Recent comments
Fantastic pictures! I resentfully say I am not a witness of any of the MG sections in South.
Posted by Vivek Mishra on 2013 Apr 29 14:23:50 +0000
Great album... Loved MG monster!!!
Posted by Bhaveen Patel on 2013 Apr 19 15:07:42 +0000
fantastic album...loved the pics.. :)
Posted by Pramit Mitra on 2013 Apr 18 14:09:56 +0000